I've Got Your Number

BOOK REVIEW

Chick lit novels are my favorite.

I don't know it has something to do with the blend of romance and drama or the fact that it's just easier to read than most genres.

SUMMARY

Poppy Wyatt greatest dream is about to come true. She's marrying Magnus Tavish, her dream guy. But when everything's on top, things can only go downhill.

First, she loses her engangement ring in a hotel fire drill. Then as if things aren't bad enough, she loses her phone.

As she went about the hotel lobby, she came across a discarded cellphone in a trash can. Great! Now she can leave a number to all of her friends and the hotel if ever they find her ring or her cellphone.

Things are finally looking up, but the cellphone's true owner, business man Sam Roxton, isn't happy that a company cellphone is in the possession of an unknown woman. Worst, Poppy is reading his messages and emails, disturbing his personal life.

Sam will try his hardest to get his phone back, and Poppy will go lengths to keep the cellphone and find her own phone and ring back. What starts is a hilarious and unpredictable turn of events as Poppy and Sam increasingly upend each other’s lives through emails and text messages. As Poppy juggles wedding preparations, mysterious phone calls, and hiding her left hand from Magnus and his parents . . . she soon realizes that she is for a tough ride.

WHAT I THINK...

Sophie Kinsella was one of the authors who accompanied me through my high school life. Her books can be found abundantly in our school's bookstore. I fell in love with her after I read her book, Confessions of a Shopaholic. I think there isn't a single Kinsella book that I haven't read yet.

Her style of writing is very similar to another popular chick-lit writer, Meg Cabot, but different too. For instance, while both authors both write incredible romantic comedy with a pinch of drama, Meg Cabot writes novels about teenagers and some adults while Sophie Kinsella writes about (sometimes) mature adults.

I've Got Your Number is not a cliche novel. It's got a lot of plot twists that you won't expect (duh-twists) and it's gonna make you think that life is not all about sunshine and rainbows. 

I love the characters' personality, especially Sam Roxton's. That man is so mature, serious and business-like on the outside but sweet and hilarious on the inside. Well, that probably sounded like a very typical description of a typical CEO. But honestly, you'll fall in love with his two-sided personality. He's not a boastful, playboy, badboy kind of CEO you'll find in other stories. He's actually a very down-to-earth and dedicated to his company. He's also a work-a-holic, and that's why he needs someone to insert some fun and humor into his life.

I love how Poppy Wyatt is the exact opposite of Sam Roxton. She's irresponsible, panicky, more socially-involved and most of all,  she's humorous, bubbly and lively. She also thinks that she already met the man of her dreams and she thinks that she's as happy as she can ever be. But in truth, she's not. She finds Magnus (Bane- what my brain thinks automatically) Tavish and his family too... bright for her. I mean Magnus and the whole family are all university professors, the kind that criticizes current issues, books, personalities, etc. In short, her in-laws are everything she's not. Poppy Wyatt has never felt more uncomfortable.

Other characters include Violet, Sam's PA, a stylish girl who isn't doing what she loves. Lucinda, a almost-too-nice wedding planner that is closer to her fiance as Poppy thinks. There are also Poppy's co-workers at the spa, Poppy's friends, and the young intern, Clemency. 

All of these characters has a special part in the story. I promise you that you will have a hard time putting the book down, cause you can't stand not knowing what 's going to happen next.

Thanks Sophie for writing another awesome novel!
. 

Don't Deny

A girl named Diane went to a party and stayed longer than she planned, and had to walk home.

She wasn't afraid because it was a small town and she lived only a few blocks away.

As she walked under the tall elm tree, Diane asked God to keep her safe from harm and danger.

When she reached the alley, which was a shortcut to her house, she decided to take it.

However, halfway down the alley she noticed a man standing as though he was waiting for her.

Diane became uneasy and began to pray, asking for God's protection.

Instantly a comforting feeling of quietness and security wrapped around her, she felt as though someone was walking with her.

When she reached the end of the alley, she walked right past the man and arrived home safely.

The following day, she read in the newspaper that a young girl had been killed and raped in the same alley just twenty minutes after she'd been there.

Feeling overwhelmed by this tragedy and the fact that it could have been her, Diane began to weep.

Thanking the Lord for her safety and to help this young woman, she decided to go to the police station.

She felt she could recognize the man, so she told them her story.

The police asked her if she would be willing to look at a lineup to see if she could identify him.

She agreed and immediately pointed out the man she'd seen in the alley the night before.

When the man was told that he had been identified, he immediately broke down and confessed.

The officer thanked Diane for her bravery and asked if there was anything they could do for her.

She asked if they would ask the man one question.

Diane was curious as to why the man hadn't attacked her.

When the policeman asked him, he answered:

Because she wasn't alone.

She had two tall men walking on either side of her.

Amazingly, whether you believe it or not, you're never alone.

Did you know that 97 of teenagers won't stand up for God?

PS: God is always there in your heart and loves you no matter what.

STAND UP FOR HIM!

Gakuen Alice

Yeah, I know it's an old anime. But I'm not going to write about it's anime adaptation, but rather, the original manga.

For those who haven't watched this yet, I'll give you my warning. The anime is really short and you'll be left wanting a season 2. So I recommend that you read the manga first. 

Genre: Comedy, Supernatural,Romance, Drama
Written by: Higuchi Tachibana

SUMMARY...

Mikan Sakura and Hotaru Imai were the stars in their town. But everything will change when Hotaru is transferred to a mysterious and prestigious private school somewhere in Tokyo.

Worried about her best friend, Mikan Sakura went to Tokyo by herself. There she discovers Alice Academy, a school for "gifted" children. Little did she know that she is one of them herself. 

Mikan will discover new friends and classmates (and romance :D), and she will discover a little something about her past...

WHAT I THINK...

The author, Tachibana Higuchi, balanced the light and heavy aspects of the story perfectly. The plot is actually well developed, as you can really see the character's development from childhood to their teenage years. The manga teaches us that not everything in life is happy or wonderful, but at the same time it teaches us that everything will turn out alright. 

You'll never get tired of  it. Every chapter leaves you wanting more and I assure you that you will finish the whole 31 volumes in no time!!!

I really enjoyed reading the anime. I am patiently (kind of) waiting for the final chapter of the manga to be released. Please, Tachibana Higuchi, release it already!!!

Physical Education?

I'm pre-enlisting my subjects for college. BTW, I decided to go to UP. 

Then I came upon this long list of PE subjects...

Some of which I didn't even know exist

Most of which I didn't even know can be included as Physical Education.

• Basic Street Dance 
• Table Tennis 
• Camping 
• South American Social Dances 
• Basic Basketball For Women 
• Basic Basketball For Women 
• FIN Swimming (?) 
• Self Defense 
• Bridge 
• Chess 
• Speedball (?) 
• Basic Ten Pin Bowling 
• Weight training 
• Body Building 
• Futsal 
• Pistol Marksmanshim 
• Judo 
• Aero Kick Boxing (?) 
• Team Building 
• Ultimate Freesbee 
• Body Alignment (?) 
• Duck Pin Bowling 
• Flag Football 
• Scuba Diving 
• Pilates 
• Baseball 
• Ballet Fitness 
• Shibashi And Taichi (?)
• Cheer Dancing
• Running
• Aerobics
• Striptease aerobics (?)
• Street Jazz
• Band and Ball
• International Social Club Dances
• Sepak Taraw
• Circuit Weight Training
• Latin Ballroom Dances
• Weight Training
• Circuit Training
• Weight Lifting
• Tae Kwan Do
• Yoga
• Floorball
• Foreign Folk Dance
• Softball
• Motor Sports
• Soccer
• Scrabble
• Stretching
• Cycling
• Modern Ballroom Dances
• Basic Social Dance
• Ice Skating
• Swimming
• Sports Climbing
• Archery
• Fencing
• Jiu-Jitsu
• Walking
• Badminton
• Philippine Folk Dance
• Modern Jazz
• Tap Dancing
• Tennis\
• Swimming
• Rugby
• Aero Bench (?)
• Mahjong
• Gymnastics
• Ice Hockey
• Rifle Marksmanship
• Karate
• Modern dance
• Basic Life Saving
• Belly Dancing
• Aikido
• Arnis

So I'm wondering, can you guys help a physically challenged bookworm? Thank you. Hahahaha.

Anyway, life's been good. I'm enjoying my summer vacation, which is now four months instead of two. You know why? That's because my college decided to move the opening of classes from June to August.

Now isn't that nice!

Since I've got a lot of free time, I think I'll be updating more. Books, anime, movies and shows to come!!!

Watch out for my new Twilight fanfiction, "You Don't Belong Here" on fanfiction.net. It will be posted real soon. :D

Finals are Finally Freaking Finished

And after 9 months of sleepless nights, cramming and not enjoying, finals are finally freaking finished. And that means that today is the last day of my regular classes as a high school student, and I wasn't able to savour those precious moments.

I blame Physics for that.

Well actually, not really. At least, I blame not only Physics. I forgot that it's the last day of my supposedly happiest and most glorious year of my life. Hahaha.

Well anyway, Physics was hard, as usual. But not to worry, I did well, I think.

I didn't feel sad about the passing of my last day. Although, I will miss my friends though. And I'm quite not ready to go out of high school and into college.

I don't know yet where I will go to college. I am pleased to announce that I have passed the  top 3 colleges in my country (University of the Philippines, De La Salle University, Ateneo de Manila University). Unfortunately I can't decide between UP and La Salle. So if any one of you readers is a Filipino, help me decide please?

College life is something mysterious for me. I don't know a thing about college. I don't know how my schedule's gonna be, or what activities are available. I have attended to one frehmen orientation so far and the only think that I have gathered is that in college, you'll have more freedom. You'll learn to be independent and self-reliant.

But enough of that heavy stuff. Let's talk about something else.

Like the Oscars. Hahahahahahaha.

Poor Leonardo Dicarpio. But let's talk more about that on the next post. Laters.

Special A

Hanozono Hikari was used to being undefeated in all aspects of things- academics, physical fitness and yes, even martial arts. but that all changed when one day, Takishima Kei- son of the CEO of Takishima group of companies, defeated her in a match of martial arts.

Since then, Hikari swore to defeat Takishima in every aspect: studies, sports, or in any other competition. Presently, Hikari entered Hakusen Academy in order to beat Takishima.

The anime follows the story of Hikari's mission to beat Takishima. As time goes by, she develops a strong bond of friendship with the rest of the top seven students of the Academy, collectively called Special A.

Genre: Romantic comedy, School story
Written: by Maki Minami

WHAT I THINK...
Special A is one of my fave anime ever!!! It made me smile, laugh, cry and symphatize in just a span of one episode. The graphics are amazing, and the songs are too. 

Each of the character's personalities are so unique and well developed. You'll surely be attached to them.

Special A taught me that no man is an island, that everybody is programmed to live with others, to need others.

And of course, you'll fall in LOVE with Takishima Kei. Hahaha. Honestly, you will.

I'm Wearing a Mask

Poetry By Charles C. Finn

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Please Hear What I'm Not Saying

               Don't be fooled by me.
               Don't be fooled by the face I wear
               for I wear a mask, a thousand masks,
               masks that I'm afraid to take off,
               and none of them is me.

               Pretending is an art that's second nature with me,
               but don't be fooled,
               for God's sake don't be fooled.
               I give you the impression that I'm secure,
               that all is sunny and unruffled with me, within as well
                    as without,
               that confidence is my name and coolness my game,
               that the water's calm and I'm in command
               and that I need no one,
               but don't believe me.
               My surface may seem smooth but my surface is my mask,
               ever-varying and ever-concealing.
               Beneath lies no complacence.
               Beneath lies confusion, and fear, and aloneness.
               But I hide this.  I don't want anybody to know it.
               I panic at the thought of my weakness exposed.
               That's why I frantically create a mask to hide behind,
               a nonchalant sophisticated facade,
               to help me pretend,
               to shield me from the glance that knows.

               But such a glance is precisely my salvation, my only hope,
               and I know it.
               That is, if it's followed by acceptance,
               if it's followed by love.
               It's the only thing that can liberate me from myself,
               from my own self-built prison walls,
               from the barriers I so painstakingly erect.
               It's the only thing that will assure me
               of what I can't assure myself,
               that I'm really worth something.
               But I don't tell you this.  I don't dare to, I'm afraid to.
               I'm afraid your glance will not be followed by acceptance,
               will not be followed by love.
               I'm afraid you'll think less of me,
               that you'll laugh, and your laugh would kill me.
               I'm afraid that deep-down I'm nothing
               and that you will see this and reject me.

               So I play my game, my desperate pretending game,
               with a facade of assurance without
               and a trembling child within.
               So begins the glittering but empty parade of masks,
               and my life becomes a front.
               I idly chatter to you in the suave tones of surface talk.
               I tell you everything that's really nothing,
               and nothing of what's everything,
               of what's crying within me.
               So when I'm going through my routine
               do not be fooled by what I'm saying.
               Please listen carefully and try to hear what I'm not saying,
               what I'd like to be able to say,
               what for survival I need to say,
               but what I can't say.

               I don't like hiding.
               I don't like playing superficial phony games.
               I want to stop playing them.
               I want to be genuine and spontaneous and me
               but you've got to help me.
               You've got to hold out your hand
               even when that's the last thing I seem to want.
               Only you can wipe away from my eyes
               the blank stare of the breathing dead.
               Only you can call me into aliveness.
               Each time you're kind, and gentle, and encouraging,
               each time you try to understand because you really care,
               my heart begins to grow wings--
               very small wings,
               very feeble wings,
               but wings!

               With your power to touch me into feeling
               you can breathe life into me.
               I want you to know that.
               I want you to know how important you are to me,
               how you can be a creator--an honest-to-God creator--
               of the person that is me
               if you choose to.
               You alone can break down the wall behind which I tremble,
               you alone can remove my mask,
               you alone can release me from my shadow-world of panic,
               from my lonely prison,
               if you choose to.
               Please choose to.

               Do not pass me by.
               It will not be easy for you.
               A long conviction of worthlessness builds strong walls.
               The nearer you approach to me
               the blinder I may strike back.
               It's irrational, but despite what the books say about man
               often I am irrational.
               I fight against the very thing I cry out for.
               But I am told that love is stronger than strong walls
               and in this lies my hope.
               Please try to beat down those walls
               with firm hands but with gentle hands
               for a child is very sensitive.

               Who am I, you may wonder?
               I am someone you know very well.
               For I am every man you meet
               and I am every woman you meet.

Heaven's Grocery Store

I was walking down life's highway a long time ago.
One day I saw a sign that read,

"HEAVEN'S GROCERY STORE"

As I got a little closer
the door came open wide
And when I came to myself
I was standing inside.

I saw a host of ANGELS.
They were standing everywhere.
One handed me a basket and said,
"My Child shop with care".

Everything a Christian needed
was in that grocery store.
And all you couldn't carry,
you could come back the next day for more.

First, I got some PATIENCE:
LOVE was in the same row.
Further down was UNDERSTANDING:
You need that everywhere you go.

I got a box or two of WISDOM,
a bag or two of FAITH.
I just couldn't miss the HOLY GHOST,
For it was all over the place.

I stopped to get some STRENGTH and COURAGE
To help me run this race.
By then my basket was getting full,
But I remembered I needed some GRACE.

I didn't forget SALVATION,
For SALVATION was free,
So I tried to get enough of that
To save both You and Me.

Then I started up to the counter
To pay my grocery bill,
For I thought I had everything
To do the MASTER'S Will.

As I went up the aisle, I saw PRAYER:
And I just had to put that in,
For I knew when I stepped outside,
I would run into Sin.

PEACE AND JOY were plenty
They were last on the shelf.
SONG and PRAISE were hanging near,
So I just helped myself.

Then I said to the angel,
"Now, how much do I owe?"
He smiled and said,
"Just take them everywhere you go.”

Again, I smiled and said,
"How much do I really owe?"
He smiled again and said,
"MY CHILD, JESUS PAID YOUR BILL
A LONG, LONG TIME AGO."

 Author: Author Unknown

Sometimes, you just have to let go and let God take care of you...

House of Hades

The latest book of the Heroes of Olympus Series by Rick Riordan is out! Rejoice!!! Woohoo!!!

Unlike the first three books, House of Hades feautures the narration of all the seven demigods: Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, Frank, Hazel and Leo. And (for me) it doesn't end in a cliffhanger, although I would like to read more.

The characters are as witty, funny and clever as ever. You'll be amazed (again) by Annabeth's strategic thinking, enjoy (again) by Leo's jokes and be at awe (again) with Percy's power.

HERE ARE SOME MAJOR SPOILERS:
1) Nico is gay.

I know, it's a lot to take in. Our favorite son of Hades is GAY!!!! No!!! It can't be! But yes, he is. He admitted this to Cupid, the god of love. He said that he had a crush on Percy Jackson. Awww, your handsomeness is wasted, Nico!!

2) Leo fell in love.

Another fact that's hard to take in. Leo fell in love, and this time, the girl fell in love with him too! Leo was stranded on Oygyia, the island of Calypso. At first, he and Calypso didn't get along, but as time passed by, they learned to love each other. Cheesy, right? When it's time for Leo to leave, he made a romantic promise to return for Calypso. And I think she really meant it.

3) Frank became praetor.

Frank was given by Jason the emergency praetor position towards the end of the book. Jason had to do this because Frank needed the authority to command a legion of dead Roman soldiers in order to kill the monsters in House of Hades

4) Percy and Annabeth survived Tartarus 

Yehey! We can all relax with relief now. Percy and Annabeth survived the impossible, of course with a little help from the good titan, Bob (Iapetus). They even survived the encounter with Nyx, goddess of darkness, and the god of the pit, Tartarus. 

My 3rd Week of August

My 3rd week of August is coming up good.

My class is almost finished in practicing the musical Grease. AND I"M LOVING IT!

I love the choreography, especially in Summer Nights, and You're The One that I Want.

I just hope we'll get to present a good show this upcoming Thursday.

On a sadder note, we've been getting tons of assignments due to Grease practices. I hope I'll finish them all in time.

GREASE REVIEW

Grease will forever be one of the classical musicals. The plot is cliche, but was delivered well. 

Sandy Olsen is a sweet, innocent girl. She fell in love with Danny Zuko in the beach during their summer vacations. When they met again at school, Sandy was shocked to see her Danny Zuko has changed. In truth, Danny Zuko is a bad boy and the leader of the group T-Birds.

The songs are fabulous and the dance steps are also awesome. :)